Egypt has allocated EGP 6bn in the budget of the fiscal year (FY) 2019/20 to stimulate exports through a new programme to solve the challenges faced by Egyptian exports, according to the Minister of Finance Mohamed Moeit on Saturday.

The allocated amount is divided into EGP 2.4bn in cash assistance, EGP1.8bn to be deducted from the exporting companies’ obligations to the Ministry of Finance, and EGP1.8bn from the allocations of stimulating exports to support infrastructure needed for exports, in order to ensure the presence of the local component in various industrial sectors.

On Friday, the General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) stated in its report that Egypt’s non-oil exports recorded $13.037bn during the first half (H1) of 2019.

The GOEIC has further explained that the agricultural export council topped the list of exporting councils which witnessed the increase, explaining that the agricultural exports hiked to $1.575bn during the first six months of 2019, up from $1.446bn during the same period last year.

“Followed by the exports of the Egyptian Export Council for Printing, Packaging, Paper, Literary, and Artistic Work, with the exports of books and artistic work hiked to $7.156m during the period from January to June 2019, up from $6.67m during the same period in 2018,” according to the report.

The report noted that the exports of the Food Export Council came third, in which the exports of food industries recorded $1.559bn during the H1 of 2019, compared to $1.469bn during the same period of last year.

Then came in the fourth place the exports of the ready-made garments in which it rose to $800m during the H1 of 2019, then came in the fifth place the exports of medical industries reached $261m during the same period.

On the other hand, the minister said that the government has allocated also EGP 5bn in the budget to establish 13 industrial complexes.

He assured that the government is paying special attention to the small, medium and micro enterprises, noting that the new draft law for the small, medium, and micro enterprises, includes tax and customs incentives; explaining that this vital sector plays a great role in supporting the national economy.